About Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa

Cameron Jibril Thomaz was born on the 8th September 1987 in North Dakota, United States. His father was serving in the army. At the age of three, Wiz Khalifa’s parents divorced. Khalifa grew up moving from one town to another. They moved from Germany, United Kingdom to Japan. They finally settled in Pittsburgh. Khalifah studied in “Taylor Allderdice High School”.

His stage name Wiz was derived from the shortened word of “wisdom.” When he was a kid he was very smart and his grandfather called him “young Wiz.” While, Khalifa is derived from an Arabic word “successor.” He had his first tattoo when he was seventeen. Khalifa was influenced by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Jimi Hendrix, and more.

Khalifa was discovered by Benjy Grinberg the president of Rostrum Records. Grindberg stated that Khalifa has a big potential like a raw diamond that just needs some polishing. Khalifah signed a contract with the recording company and started developing his skills as an artist.

2005. His first ever mixtape “Prince of the City: Welcome to Pistolvania” was released. Then after a year he launched his first album “Show and Prove”. In Rolling Stone magazine, Khalifah was announced to be the “artist to watch”

2007. Khalifah signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records. At the same time, he continued making mixtapes with Rostrum Records. Two of the mixtapes were “Grow Season” and “Prince of the City 2”. “Say Yeah” was his first single with Warner Bros. The song reached the top spot in Billboard, 25th on “Rhythmic Top 40” and 20th on “Hot Rap Tracks”. Khalifa participated at U92’s Summer Jam with “The Game”, “David Banner” and “Play-n-Skillz” at USANA Amphitheater in Utah.

2009. Khalifa ended his deal with Warner Bros., but he maintained his association with “Rostrum Records”. He released the single “Teach U to Fly” and “How Fly” on the 9th of August 2009. Later that year he released “Deal or No Deal” album.

2010. He was in the cover of XXL Magazine and was featured to be the “Rookie of the Year” and “The Man of the Year.” By June, Khalifa released Kush and Orange Juice mixtape free for download. He signed with “Atlantic Records” and released a single “Black and Yellow.” It became a big hit on Billboard Hot 100.

2011. Rolling Papers was Khalifa’s first studio album. He sold less than two hundred thousand copies in its first week out in the market. He won the title of Best New Artist at BET Awards. And he was featured in Maroon 5’s song Payphone in 2012.